I think in the next Giro D'Italia we could see many surprises in the GC. At first a Franco Pellizzoti who has comeback at the 2009 level, Carlos Betancur, who has finished 4° in Trentino, Winner Anacona, which in his first year as a professional rider was near the bests climbers on the Vuelta, the leaders of Coldeportes if Acquarone invite the team, Steven Kruivswijk (if he confirmed the 2011 level) Wilco Kelderman, benefited by the ITT, Robert Kiserlovski, the GC guy of Radioshack which did a good race in 2010, Gianluca Brambilla, if he improves in Omega Pharma, Mikel Landa and Rafal Majka, and Henao or Porte as team leaders if Wiggins finally doesnt ride. Who knows if Aru and Dombrowski will ride. The logic says no but if they ride i can see them as surprises of the race and Superdomestiques.

Jason_Mercier wrote:The Gesink of the Vuelta wouldnt do nothing against Nibali, Wiggins and even Samuel Sánchez if he come back in top shape after the injury.

You do realise Gesink virtually had no preparation for last years Vuelta? He had ok form after an ok-ish preparation (more like recovery from the tour fall) and obviously was a bit far from his 2010/11 level

BYOP88 wrote:Great to see that Porte has rediscovered his 2010/11 climbing form. Hope he can keep it for the rest of the Tour and year.

The Gesink of 2010/2011 wouldnt do nothing against Nibali, Wiggins and even Samuel Sánchez if he come back in top shape after the injury. As much a 3rd place if Samu or Wiggins dont come to Italy. Do you realise this?

Dekker_Tifosi wrote:You do realise Gesink virtually had no preparation for last years Vuelta? He had ok form after an ok-ish preparation (more like recovery from the tour fall) and obviously was a bit far from his 2010/11 level

Could be true, his crashes were worse than they first appeared. Wiggins' 2011 collarbone fracture, even if that looked bad, healed quite well. He was already training on rollers a few days afterwards, which meant he was able to do a sufficient preparation for the Vuelta, even without racing days.
Fact remains that we haven't seen the 2011 Dauphine Gesink in a while, and there's no reason to believe he'll be back for next season. He's definitely not a Giro favourite, like Wiggins(?), Purito, Hesjedal or Nibali obviously are.

Dekker_Tifosi wrote:You do realise Gesink virtually had no preparation for last years Vuelta? He had ok form after an ok-ish preparation (more like recovery from the tour fall) and obviously was a bit far from his 2010/11 level

That's true, Van Houwelingen also said that he was surprised by Gesink's performance as his preparation was far from ideal ("op z'n jan-boerenfluitjes", as Van Houwelingen called it). You could also see that after the Vuelta he was completely dead, at the Worlds. Non stop rehabilitation, training, and racing since October last year.

Anyway, we'll see, I'm still to be convinced that post-legbreak Gesink can climb as well as before. The Tour of California and the final weekend of the Tour de Suisse leave me somewhat hopeful in that regard.